INTERVIEWS
Meet Peach PRC, The Internet’s New Favorite Pop Star
In between making TikToks about weird human behavior, living in blissful ignorance of astrology, and Ed Sheeran’s bizarre lyrical choices, Peach PRC is writing magnetic, fascinating, and incredibly catchy pop songs. The latest of these is “God Is A Freak,” which finds Peach investigating God’s so-called “omnipotence,” while pointing out how judgmental people in organized religion can be. And not only that, the song is hilarious, heartfelt, and a bit heavy all at once (“God is a bit of freak/ why’s he watching me getting railed on the couch/ staying pure for a wedding?/ He’s got fucked up priorities”). Peach has been reckoning with the logic and laws of God for a while in her TikTok videos, and “God Is A Freak” is certainly a dramatic statement of curiosity. But having come out as a lesbian...
The Saga of Shaq: DJ Diesel On Why He’s Among The Few to Thrive In Both Sports and Music
As a four-time NBA champion and three-time MVP, Shaquille O’Neal thrives in high stakes environments. Though the NBA Hall of Famer traded the court for the stage, rebranding himself as DJ Diesel in the process, O’Neal’s “go big or go home” attitude is as vigorous as ever. Over the last handful of years, Shaq’s Fun House has rightfully earned a reputation as a “must-see” event during Super Bowl Weekend. The very concept of bringing a full-size carnival and music festival experience to fruition for one night only would appear a daunting task for almost anyone, but it goes to show that when you start your day with some energizing drum & bass music, anything’s possible. This year’s edition of Shaq’s Fun House is am...
Nick Cannon Had ‘Baby Mama Drama’ After Kevin Hart’s Condom Vending Machine Prank
Nick Cannon is still on good terms with Kevin Hart, despite the comedian gifting him a vending machine full of condoms as a Valentine’s Day prank. While the joke provided a good laugh for both, The Masked Singer host recalled getting into a bit of hot water with the mothers of his children before Hart revealed himself as the prankster. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In an interview with Entertainment Tonight published Wednesday (Feb. 9), Cannon appeared alongside Hart and their Real Husbands of Hollywood co-stars, and took a brief moment to talk about their mutual pranks. “I still think me wrapping [Hart’s] face on my private plane is better than his sending me a vending machine full of condoms,” he said. “Vending machine full of condoms is a ...
Frank Turner Gets Back to Punk Rock on FTHC
It’s popular for artists to say these days that they don’t care about genre, but Frank Turner really doesn’t care about genre. We’re not talking about going from indie to alternative or something here, but a punk rocker (who’s often bridged the gap between folk, punk, and other forms of Englishman-with-an-acoustic-guitar) releasing an electro-pop album followed by a “history podcast” album. Yes, his most recent album in the “before times” of 2019, No Man’s Land, is based around famous women throughout history who had to battle against gender norms (“You can imagine how stoked my record label was about that one”). But now, the man who’s used a logo reading FTHC for years is finally releasing probably the closest thing to an actual hardcore album he’ll ever do under his own name — aptly titl...
Slash Discusses His New Solo Album, Fear Covers Album and That South Park Episode
Two years into Zoom becoming a mainstream method of communication, it’s clear that the assortment of books, artwork and knickknacks that decorate the shelves in the background of a video call say a lot about the person appearing in front of them. Sure, some folks opt for a shelf-free background, but unless you’re in a particularly enthralling room or have some very special art or posters as your backdrop, all that tells people is that you’re boring. Of course, there’s always the digital option of replacing your actual setting with something more interesting… if you’re a coward. As one might expect, Slash has a wide variety of tchotchkes on the shelves behind him in his preferred Zoom setup. The groupings of gifts, purchases, and other small acquisitions no doubt tell different parts of his...
Black Country, New Road Don’t Care If You Hate Their Ambitious New LP
“We knew that people weren’t going to like it,” says Black Country, New Road‘s Lewis Evans. “And [now] I know that people won’t like it.” It doesn’t read like a ringing endorsement of Ants From Up There, the recently issued second album from the British sextet. But the saxophonist correctly insists it’s the “best thing [they’ve] ever done” — a more mature song cycle that broadens the emotional range of 2021’s For the First Time. Where that acclaimed debut relied heavily on deadpan speak-sing snark and brooding post-punk riffs, Ants is often bright and opened-armed, landing somewhere between ornate art-rock and Arcade Fire-sized chamber-pop. They’ve always had style to spare — now they have heart. “One of the main aims of the second album was to explore, first of all, more ...
ATEEZ Are Just Getting Started
“Did you see the new Spider-Man: No Way Home?” asks Yunho, one of the eight members of ATEEZ. “His famous line is, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ We have more and more fans coming in, and we want to carry that responsibility well.” It’s a thoughtful — and fair — observation. Since the last time they were in America, ATEEZ have exploded. Three years ago, the eight-member group (Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Mingi, San, Yeosang, Wooyoung, and Jongho) played a venue in Los Angeles that held 1,500 people; on January 30th of this year, they appeared before a sold-out crowd at The Forum (capacity: 18,000). This change is an easy way to visibly quantify the group’s growth, but feels like too basic of a measure of the show ATEEZ puts on. The January 30th concert at The Forum ran over...
Bastille Wants You to Escape Into the Future
Though the ideas behind Bastille’s fourth album, Give Me the Future, were mostly conceptualized during the pre-pandemic time, it’s hard to deny the album’s parallels to the world as it’s developed over the last couple of years. At the time, the multi-platinum pop-rockers were fresh off the success of 2019’s Doom Days, and Bastille were ready to make an album about escapism — a topic many folks became all too familiar with during two years of various lockdowns and quarantines. “Initially, it was a slightly different idea,” frontman Dan Smith says, his warm voice sounding like the embrace of an old friend. “It was much more about dreaming more literally — maladaptive daydreaming and lucid dreaming. It was a bit about technology and about escapism via narratives — the narratives that we write...
Animal Collective ‘Drive Through a Certain Mist’ on New LP Time Skiffs
“Raw,” “free,” “loosey-goosey” — these are adjectives no one would use to describe Animal Collective‘s Painting With, an album so bright and intense it often feels like staring into a solar eclipse without the proper eyewear. Six years later, Animal Collective has returned with Time Skiffs, which feels more like gazing casually into a psychedelic forest — the scenery is more textured and detailed, hidden with colorful surprises. And, as the band’s Noah Lennox (Panda Bear) and Brian Weitz (Geologist) describe, it’s, well, a lot more “raw,” “free” and “loosey-goosey.” “It’s pretty typical with us for the new thing to be some kind of reaction to the previous thing,” Lennox tells SPIN over Zoom, making gentle eye contact as he swivels in a brown desk chair. “We’ve completely gon...
Panda Bear on Animal Collective’s Unceasing “River of Creation,” Eleven Albums In
It’s been nearly six years since Animal Collective released Painting With, their tenth studio album — but according to Noah Lennox (AKA Panda Bear), the time flew by. Each member of AnCo is immensely collaborative, constantly working on projects either in a solo capacity or with other members of the band. And now, on Friday (February 4th), Animal Collective are gearing up to release the gorgeous, captivating Time Skiffs. It’s their eleventh (!) studio album, and one of their finest to date. Time Skiffs was initially hyped to be something akin to 2007’s Strawberry Jam (which turns 15 years old this year), but upon listening, there’s an ease with which Animal Collective can pull off the most complicated and intricate patterns. On the album are meditations on growing older and parenthood...
Murderville: How They Made Will Arnett’s Wild Improvised Cop Comedy for Netflix
The premise for Netflix’s new semi-unscripted comedy Murderville isn’t actually that hard to explain, on the surface: Each episode, shot in the style of a classic police procedural, features a new mystery being investigated by a tough mustachioed cop (Will Arnett) and his trainee partner. The catch is that said trainee is a celebrity, and they don’t have any idea what’s going on, because only Arnett and the other actors have the script. This leaves famous folks like Season 1 guest stars Conan O’Brien, Marshawn Lynch, Kumail Nanjiani, Annie Murphy, Sharon Stone, and Ken Jeong to improv their way towards solving the case — which they may or may not do correctly. If that sounds complicated to you, showrunner Krister Johnson (Medical Police) would agree. “I certainly had never figured this out...
Erin Rae Breaks Down Her New Album Lighten Up Track by Track: Exclusive Stream
For our Track by Track feature, artists open up about the stories behind each song on their latest album. Today, Erin Rae takes us track by track through her new album, Lighten Up. After releasing her debut effort, Putting on Airs, in 2018, Erin Rae was living as the troubadours do. She spent the years between that release and the start of the pandemic on the road and, like any other artist, found that life come to a screeching halt. On Friday, February 4th, she’ll return with her new album, Lighten Up, an appropriate title both for our times and for the album. This latest collection is an amalgam of dreamy, psychedelic country, indie-rock, and believably vintage folk. Thematically, too, the album is a bit like an old kaleidoscope — social commentary and musings on gender equality mor...
